Wish Upon A Star
by black angel's wing
Summary: Sort of a spin off from A New Perspective. It's the first day of fall, and the new season brings about a certain fox's special day! Happy birthday Autumn!


**black angel's wing ****_-_**_ So I know that I'm a terrible author for starting A New Perspective and then putting it on hiatus, but this idea or another story just came to me, and i had to write it. _

_And a warning, a certain character will be a bit out of character, but I thought it was necessary for the sake of fluffiness. _

_So about this story. It's a spin off from the main story, and I promise I'll get back to writing it soon, I just got caught up in my other story. Which has been taking awhile longer to update than I had originally anticipated. I really am sorry about that guys!_

_And go! ^.^_

* * *

Wish Upon A Star

* * *

The sky was still dark when she climbed up to the roof, and for that she was thankful. She settled into her usual spot and sighed contentedly as the morning sun rose. Her ears flopped around in the cool, intermittent breeze, and she shivered in anticipation. The sun rise appeared to be more glorious athan it usually was, what with how the ever changing colors seemed to be a little bit brighter.

She sat cross legged and placed her tail in her lap. Stroking it absentmindedly, she took note of the trees, or more precisely, the leaves. They were beginning to change from their pristine green to the more fiery colors of burnt orange, bright yellow, and deep red. It truly was the first day of the new season.

Station Square had been relatively quiet during Dr. Eggman's strange period of silence, and Autumn and her friends were drinking up the time of relaxation before he made his reappearance.

She smiled to herself before standing slowly. Looking up into the never ending blue, she scanned it's expanse for any pure white clouds. Her smile faltered some when she realized that there were none, but she quickly shrugged it off and slid off the roof. She didn't need any clouds to tell her that today was going to be great.

Autumn landed gracefully on the ground and stretched her arms. Her auburn fur shined in the provided light from the sun that had risen about an hour ago, and her grey eyes held an emotion that could only be described as pure joy.

As she plodded across the dewy green grass toward the mansion, a butterfly fluttered by her head and landed on her white t-shirt. She halted in her movements and giggled quietly as to not disturb the beautiful insect. It's wings were like a painting, it's colors were so vivid. She had never seen a butterfly quite like this one. The base color was a vibrant lavender, and all along the outer edge were tiny yellow circles. As her eyes moved inward, she caught sight of the small, twin black hearts that decorated the fragile being. She looked on in awe as the butterfly flapped it's gorgeous wings twice, and took off into the air once more.

She watched it until it was no longer visible, lost in the fiery foliage of the trees that surrounded the Thorndyke's mansion. The family was not at home today, and wouldn't be returning until later in the week. Chris had told them that everybody was going to a place called Mount Lexus to visit a business partner of his father's, and ha asked them very kindly to not destroy his home while they were gone.

This in mind, Autumn opened the front door and made her way into the house. She blinked a few times before she realized how quiet it was in the house. Cocking her ears forward in search of any noise at all, she was shocked when there was none at all. Confused, she called out.

"Hey Amy? Tails? Where are you guys?"

When she got no answer, she walked into the kitchen. Sighing in relief as she caught sight of a note, she picked it up and read it to herself.

_'Hey Autumn!  
We all decided to spend the day at Silver Valley! Come along as soon as you find this note so you can have fun with us!  
Lots of love,  
Cream and Amy'_

Shaking her head and laughing, Autumn put her black boots on her feet and left for the train that would take her to her friends.

* * *

She had gotten off of the train about fifteen minutes ago, yet she had yet to find any sign of any of her friends. Confused, she traipsed through a field of tall grass in search of them.

"Oh, there you are Autumn!" rang out a voice. Turning quickly to her right, the fox grinned happily when she caught sight of Amy. The pink hedgehog was wearing her usual attire, but had a red bow attached to her headband. The two girls embraced briefly before Amy pulled Autumn to where she said that everybody else was.

Of course, that place was in a clearing of the forest up near the top of one of the mountains. The pair trudged along, chatting about trivial things like the weather as they made the trek. The forest thinned, and they were about to move into the open when Amy hopped onto Autumn's back and covered the fox's eyes with her hands.

"Amy," she cried at her friend. "What are you doing?" Autumn pulled at the hands that blinded her, but she couldn't break the steel grip. Amy was giggling.

"Oh, just walk forward," she chided. "I won't let you run into anything."

Sighing in defeat, she complied. As she stumbled into the clearing under the weight of her friend, her keen ears could hear the hushed whispers and chuckles of her other friends. She stopped when she was told to, and the pink hedgehog finally let go. When she did, Autumn gasped in wonder.

"Surprise!"

"Happy birthday!"

The entire clearing was covered in streamers of all different colors, balloons hung from the branches of various trees, and a huge banner was strung along that read _'Happy Birthday Autumn'_. A picnic table was also set up in the middle of the grass that was overflowing with different desserts. A large cake was placed in the very center, decorated in pristine white frosting with hot pink piping. Off to its side was a small stack of presents wrapped in bright paper and ribbons tied in perfect bows.

Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream each had paper party hats strapped to their heads, and the latter was walking forward with a plastic tiara in her hands, Cheese flitting happily around her head.

"Happy birthday Autumn!" cheered the young rabbit as she handed the fox the small crown. "Amy and I baked you a cake!"

Autumn laughed as she placed the tiara upon her head. "Thank you so much," she looked over at her other friends. "All of you. But how did you know?"

Amy ran forward and took Autumn's hands in her own, her green eyes flashing with excitement. "You told me the last time we were in Silver Valley that your birthday was on September twenty third, the first day of autumn."

"Yeah, Amy told us last week and we decided to throw you a party." Sonic chimed in with a wink.

"Well thank you for remembering," giggled Autumn.

"How about you stop thanking us so we can eat some of this cake?" begged Tails. "I've been waiting so long and it smells so good!"

Everybody laughed at the fox, and he blushed brightly before they all sat around the table. Carefully, Amy lit the sixteen candles that were placed around the top of the cake, and everybody sang happy birthday.

When the song had ended, she smiled at all of her friends, her family, and closed her eyes to make her birthday wish. Sighing once she had decided what to wish for, she shot the request up to Siri before she blew out all of the small flames.

Clapping followed immediately after that, along with the cutting of the cake. A piece was passed out to each of them, and as soon as he was done with his, Tails suggested that she open her presents right then.

"Here," he said as he pushed a small box wrapped in yellow paper with a sky blue ribbon tied around it into her lap. "This one is from me."

Sliding off the satin ribbon and tearing off the paper, Autumn slowly took off the lid of the small brown box. Gently taking the gift from its holding place, she laughed and ran her fingers over the words. In the palm of her hand was a silver bookmark with the words _'Autumn The Fox'_ inscribed near the bottom.

"It's stainless steel," explained Tails. "So it'll never rust on you."

"Thank you so much," she said with excitement. The other fox only grinned in response.

The next gift given to her was a gift bag from Cream, which held three books. _'The Hunger Games'_, _'Catching Fire'_, and_ 'Mockingjay' _were written on the covers, and she couldn't wait to start reading them.

Then came Amy's present. Wrapped up in shiny silver paper and tied with a silky black bow, Autumn tore into the large box. Smiling, she stood up with her gift, and shrugged into it. She now wore a fuzzy black fleece jacket, which was the perfect gift for the changing weather.

She laughed as she took it off, and hugged her friend tightly.

The last box was from Sonic, and he smirked knowingly as he carefully handed her the box. An eyebrow arched at his antics, she cautiously opened the present. Once the top was off, she rolled her eyes at the blue hedgehog and chuckled.

Inside the box were two perfectly made chili dogs.

"Sonic," she laughed. "What would you do if I told you that I don't like chili dogs?"

His only response was to gape at her with his mouth open, not saying anything. When she laughed at him again, he crossed his arms and scowled at her.

"Here," she sighed after a while. Handing him the box, she rolled her eyes once more. "I might not like them, but there's no sense in letting two perfectly good chili dogs go to waste. Dig in."

Sonic flashed her a huge grin, and was immediately scarfing down the food. Grimacing at him, she shook her head before turning back other other friends and sharing a laugh when Sonic licked his fingers and sighed contentedly.

Today was looking to be a bright day.

* * *

The party had gone on for a while longer, with the group of five talking and laughing until the bright sun had begun to sink lower in the sky. When it had finally dipped below the horizon, Sonic and Tails gathered firewood and lit a bonfire. Marshmallows, ghram crackers, and chocolate were distributed, and s'mores were soon in the process on being made.

The group sang songs and ate their treats, all without a care in the world. After a while, Autumn drifted away from the others.

"I'll be back soon," she promised when Cream had asked her where she was going.

Leaving the clearing, she followed the path down the mountain and to the lake. The moon was full that night, and it reflected brightly in the placid water of the lake. Crickets sang in the dark night, and they were soon joined by both frogs and owls, creating the symphony of sounds that she so loved to hear.

She sat on the grass by the edge of the lake, her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. Sighing sadly, she rested the left side of her head on her knees an looked off into the distance. After a while, she closed her grey eyes and drew a shaky breath.

"I guess wishes don't come true after all," she whispered as a single tear slipped out of her closed eyes.

"Autumn?" came a deeper voice from behind her. Daring to hope, she wiped her eyes and turned to face the speaker. Her dull expression immediately brightened when she realized just who it was.

"Hello Knuckles."

He stood behind her somewhat awkwardly, and he shifted his weight from one foot to another. His hands were behind his back, and he smiled gently back at her. Returning the gesture, she sat cross legged and patted the space beside her, wordlessly telling him to take the seat.

He did so, and they both stared out into the lake. No words were spoken, and none were needed. They just sat, enjoying each other's company.

"You're beautiful," said Knuckles quietly. Autumn jerked her head around to face him, a light blush creeping up on her cheeks.

Knuckles blushed as well, and stuttered over his words. "Uh, it's beautiful," he corrected, stressing the second word and nodding at the scenery. "It's beautiful."

Autumn chuckled nervously, and nodded. "Yeah, it really is."

They sat in awkward silence for a few more minutes before Knuckles broke it once more.

"So, uh, I heard that today's your birthday."

Autumn nodded, facing him once more. "Yeah. Sorry you missed the party. I think there's still cake left if you would like some," she joked.

Knuckles chuckled, and coughed once before he pulled out a small box from behind him. He held it out to his companion who stared at him in wonder.

"You didn't have to get me anything," she murmured as she gently took hold of the gift.

"But I did," he replied softly. He still held onto the box, and the two locked eyes. Grey stare into deep purple, and neither one said a thing as they lapsed back into silence. Eventually Knuckles let go, and shifted his eyes to her hands. Nudging her gently with his shoulder, he told her to open it.

She did so slowly, and gasped once she caught sight of the trinket inside of it.

"Knuckles," she whispered in awe. "Where did you..." she placed a hand over her mouth and didn't continue.

The echidna bit his lip before answering. "I was out treasure hunting when I came across this. It reminded me of you, so I held onto it." He paused, taking in her reaction. "Would you like to put it on?" he breathed the question.

At her nod, he took the gift in his hands and stood. Moving behind her, he gently placed a beautiful necklace around her neck and closed the clasp. She fingered the pendant carefully as he resume his previous position.

It really was a stunning piece of jewelry. The chain was thin and silver, and was just long enough to allow the pendant to rest in the hollow of her throat. Attached to the chain was a silver heart about the size of a quarter dollar and about one half inch thick. An orange gem was also inside of the heart, though it was in the shape of a maple leaf.

A single tear made it's way down her face, and a hand that was not her own wiped it away and cradled her face.

"Hey now," came the calming voice of Knuckles. She looked into his eyes, and he gave a genuine smile, as well as a small blush. "Don't cry on me Autumn."

She couldn't help but laugh at this. He soon joined in, and they were both consumed by fits of laughter. When it finally subsided, they were left staring into each other's eyes once again. Leaning into his warm palm, Autumn placed her own hand on top of his, her fingers moving around his spiked knuckles and grasping at his fingers. She slowly pulled their intertwined hands away from her face, and they sat there quietly, holding hands.

Autumn scooted closer to her companion and rested her head on his shoulder, a content look on her face. He smiled at the movement, and gave her hand a light squeeze. They stared out at the lake as the moon rose continuously higher, listening to the sounds that nature made.

Eventually, Autumn fell asleep, her head still on Knuckles' shoulder. When he took notice of this, he blushed slightly before shaking his head in amusement. Very gently and slowly, he laid down, bringing the sleeping fox close to his warm body. Unconsciously, she snuggled closer to him, sighing with content once she found a comfortable spot with her head on his chest.

Knuckles watched her sleep like that, a small smile gracing his lips, along with the steady blush that encased his cheeks. Yawning, he hugged Autumn a bit tighter to hisself. Working up all of his remaining courage, he placed a gentle kiss upon the top of her head before closing his own eyes and drifting off to sleep.

"Goodnight Autumn," he whispered a his eyelids fluttered closed. "And happy birthday."

* * *

**black angel's wing ****_-_**_ hey guys, hope you enjoyed this one! It's just a quick one-shot about Autumn's birthday, which is the same day as mine! Of course, she is a whole year older.. _

_Yes, Knuckles was out of character. I wanted to show his softer side, but then I thought, wait. He doesn't really have one, does he? He's too proud to be sweet and fluffy like this. But hey, I did my best, and I'm really proud with how this turned out. _

_Anyway, I'm glad that you took the time to read this! So tell me what ya thought! Yay! Au revoir!_


End file.
